Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Reportage Fukushima Dai Ichi - 12 June 2013

We walk down the stairs equipped to enter Fukushima Dai Ichi [JLK, up right]

Eng: Excerpts from my story today at the Fukushima nuclear plant: "Here around 10:45 we walk down the stairs with our group of journalists in the administrative building Fukushima Dai Ichi. I am walking with my four colleagues (I am up right on this pool picture) to enter the stricken plant under high radioactivity. Tepco confirms that Cs (caesium) and Sr (strontium) and others such as Am (Americium) are especially found in contaminated waters. Tepco has not rejected yet the waters in the Pacific ocean. Tepco also built a huge 52-meter high structure next to the reactor 4 to allow a transfer in 1533 fuel rods in a cooling pool located in an adjoining building. I also enclose the report of radioactivity of Tepco. I noted an error because my dosimeter recorded 1500 μSv (microsieverts per hour) facing the reactor 3 and not just 1240 μSv. It was an exhausting day." Added quotes: (pool of reporters) The upper part of the No. 4 reactor building was blown off in a hydrogen explosion. The canopy covering it will prevent further leakage of radioactive substances when workers remove spent nuclear fuel from the building.

From what I see, there is just micro progress on Fukushima, Tepco cannot contain the contaminated water leakage, cannot store all water, considers leaking it to the ocean nearby, polluting the sea life. Regarding the melted core, most dangerous issue that will take decades, there is no appropriate technology, robot prototypes did not work, or were lost in buildings. Nuclear workers have still not been able to determine location of the nuclear fuel. Tepco tries not to answer to difficult questions as we noticed with the plant chief Takahashi. When we start asking too many, the guys say the conference is finished. Some foreign reporters complained about it. Really we hear that France is to help Japan to clean up Fukushima. If there is really something Areva and co can do to help at Fukushima it would be more than welcome trust me. This is priority. The other priority being the nuclear waste accumulated everywhere on Japan nuke plants... Fukushima is hell on earth for the time being with these "sorcerer's apprentices."